


James Comforts Regulus Through a Panic Attack

by simplysirius



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Feels, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, James x Regulus, Jegulus, M/M, One Shot, Pining, Relationship(s), Starchaser, jegulus angst, jegulus fluff, regulus x james
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:07:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29988165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplysirius/pseuds/simplysirius
Summary: When James is completing his Head Boy duties, he finds Regulus having a panic attack and does whatever he can to make sure he knows how much he’s loved.
Relationships: Regulus Black/James Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 68





	James Comforts Regulus Through a Panic Attack

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr @simplysirius for daily fics and fan art! I also take requests :)

Head Boy rounds were boring and lonesome, hours spent patrolling the castle with only the sleeping portraits on the wall to keep James company. But tonight, James wasn’t as alone as he thought.

Soft cries echoed from an abandoned corridor, the floors dusty from neglect, save for a set of footprints leading into the darkness. James held his wand at the ready, but as he inched closer to where the noise came from, the voice grew familiar. He quietly opened the door where the footprints lead and swallowed.

“Regulus?” James asked, inching closer to the body huddled on the floor.

The boy jumped, scrambling to his feet and rubbing his face on his sleeve, trying to brush away his tears before James could see them. But the moonlight streaming in through the window betrayed him, illuminated crystal tracks running down his cheeks.

“What are you doing here?” Regulus demanded, pulling his shoulders back to at least exude a false sense of confidence. “Shouldn’t you be doing rounds?”

James shrugged, closing the door behind him and carefully approaching Regulus, afraid he might run if he came too close. “I’m almost done. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Regulus said quickly, turning away so that James couldn’t see the panic searing through the cracks in his face, his eyes laced with fear of the unknown. “You should go. Dumbledore will be angry.”

“I don’t care about Dumbledore. I care about you.”

“Stop,” Regulus said quietly, squeezing his eyes closed at the tenderness weighing in James’ voice. It was a lie. It had to be.

James persisted, stepping closer. “Tell me what’s wrong. I want to help, Reg, whatever it is.”

Regulus could only shake his head, biting down harshly on his lip to keep a fresh wave of tears from washing over him. “Please go.”

A gentle hand ghosted Regulus’ shoulder, warming his skin. “Don’t push me away, love.”

The five words were enough to finally unravel Regulus, a sharp gasp tearing through his chest as James pulled his body into his arms, not minding the tears staining his favorite shirt. He hummed quietly in Regulus’ ear, carding his fingers through long strands of hair, rocking them back and forth. Regulus’ shoulders shook as his held onto James for dear life, fingers knotting in his shirt, face buried in the crook of his neck.

“Just breathe, Reg. It’s alright,” James crooned, “just breathe.”

“I can’t,” Regulus gasped, his voice muddled by tears. “It’s too much.”

“What’s too much?”

“Everything.” Regulus wrestled out of James’ grip, crossing his arms on his chest as if he could form a cage around his body to keep from falling apart. “Next week, you’re going to graduate and I’m gonna be back home for the summer and it’s going to be miserable and I won’t have anything to look forward to. You won’t be here next year, and nothing’s going to matter anymore because I’ll be all alone and…I can’t be alone again, James…I don’t…I just can’t.”

Closing the distance between them, James pressed two gentle hands on either side of Regulus, face, pulling his lightning eyes to his. “You’re not alone. You have me. Sirius and Remus, too. Wherever we are, no matter what, you’ll always have us.”

“But this summer–”

“Who said you have to go home?” James asked, raising a mischievous eyebrow. “Running away from London in your fifth year might just happen to be in your genes. If Sirius could figure out how to do it, I’m sure you can.”

Regulus sniffed, his tears subsiding but his eyes still brimming with desolation. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”

James rolled his eyes. “I thought you were supposed to be the smart Black?” On Regulus’ confused expression, he added, “I haven’t started looking for my own flat yet, but I’m sure we could find something we both like.”

“I don’t want to bother you–”

“The only thing about you that bothers me is how stubborn you are,” James teased, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. “You don’t have to make everything so complicated. There’s no buts or what-ifs or whys. Whatever you need, I’ll make it happen. That’s my job. I help you and hold you and love you.”

“Why?”

James’ eyebrows knitted together and his kind smirk slowly slipped off his face. “What do you mean why?”

Regulus’ gaze fell to the floor as his muscles pulled rigid. “Why do you love me? I don’t get it.”

“Reg–”

“No, really, I mean, my mother doesn’t. My brother doesn’t. If my own family can’t love me, why would you? There’s no reason someone like you should love someone like me,” Regulus insisted, clenching his teeth so tightly they were likely to shatter.

James shook his head and guided Regulus to a chair, sitting him down where the moonlight pooled on his alabaster skin and he could properly see his eyes. He knelt in front of him so that there was no escape, no way that Regulus could possibly wiggle his way out of feeling James’ love.

“I love the way you save your scones in the morning to feed the birds in the courtyard when you think no one’s watching,” James announced, a quiet smile splaying on his face. “I love the way your face blushes the brightest shade of pink every time I kiss you. I love when you hum little songs to yourself when we’re trying to do homework and you get bored. I love when you’re the only one in a green scarf cheering for me during a Quidditch game. I love–”

“Okay, okay,” Regulus chided, rubbing his knuckles in his eyes again. “I get it.”

James couldn’t help but laugh, his thumb brushing away a stray tear. “There are so many reasons to love you, Regulus Black. So many reasons why I’m the luckiest guy in the whole school.”

Regulus’ fingers took a handful of James’ collar, pulling him up to press their lips together. It was a soft kiss, slow and deliberate as Regulus let James tie together their heart strings, fixing what was once irreparable. They say that time heals all wounds, but when time takes too long, love is a good bandage, too.

“I can’t stay with you this summer. She’ll hunt me down if I run away, and I don’t want you to get hurt,” Regulus finally sighed, and before James could interject, he continued, “but I’m gonna write every day. You don’t have to respond, but I’ll send you a letter every night, okay?”

James smiled. “I’ll write you a hundred letters a day. So many letters, I’ll have to buy a whole family of owls. And if anything goes bad, even a single little thing, you’re coming to my house, alright? My mom isn’t going to know what to do with herself when she doesn’t have a runaway Black to take care of.”

“Okay,” Regulus conceded, letting his fingers ghost along the curve of James’ cheek. “Thank you. For everything.”

“Thank you for letting me love you.”


End file.
